A small silk cap, like the low turbans our ladies wore eight
or nine years ago, covers the head, and on it are fastened the most
brilliant jewels--diamond pins, rubies, anything that will flash. The
wearer's complexion is heightened to great brilliancy by toilet arts,
and over all, covering deficiencies, is the yashmak or thin white veil,
which conceals only in part and greatly enhances her beauty. You think
your "dream of fair women" realized, and go home and read _Lalla Rookh_
and rave of Eastern peris. Should some female friend who has visited a
harem and seen these radiant beauties face to face mildly suggest that
paint, powder and the enchantment of distance have in a measure deluded
you, you dismiss the unwelcome information as an invention of the
"green-eyed monster," and, remembering the brilliant beauties who
reclined beside the Sweet Waters or floated by you on the Golden Horn,
cherish the recollection as that of one of the brightest scenes of the
Orient.
These I have spoken of are the upper classes from the harems of the
sultan and rich pashas, but those you see constantly on foot in the
streets are the middle and lower classes, and not so attractive. They
have fine eyes, but the yashmaks are thicker, and you feel there is less
beauty hidden under them. The higher the rank the thinner the yashmak is
the rule. They also wear the long cloak, but it is made of black or
colored alpaca or a similar material.
Pages:
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59